200 every week
A good 17,000 local workers traveled to Germany
07/12/2022, 11:03 p.m
The federal government promised more than 23,000 Afghan local workers and their families a future in Germany after the Taliban took power. About a quarter of them are still stuck.
According to the federal government, almost 75 percent of the former local Afghan workers who were promised admission have come to Germany since the Taliban took power. Around 17,200 of around 23,300 local workers and their family members are now in Germany, the Foreign Office told the Bayern media group. Around 200 former local staff are flown to Germany with their families every week.
From Islamabad in particular, charter flights continue to take place for onward travel to Germany. For many of the remaining local workers and Afghans who are particularly at risk, the lack of identity papers prevents them from leaving the country, the Foreign Office said. Leaving Afghanistan is particularly difficult for women traveling alone. You can only apply for family reunification visas in Islamabad and in New Delhi, India; the visa office in Kabul has been closed since 2017.
Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan last August, there had been repeated sharp criticism of the German government’s evacuation efforts. The Bundeswehr had left behind thousands of local workers and those in need of protection during their hasty retreat. A committee of inquiry in the Bundestag is currently dealing with the events surrounding the withdrawal from Afghanistan of the German armed forces and their allies.